After showing them Hell Our Lady said to the children: "You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will beak out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. "To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.
If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved . . . " “When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of Hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.’”
Notice the
‘if my requests are heeded’. In other words,
there is the possibility that they will not be. *Who *is Our Lady making requests of? **The Popes and the Bishops? **When is this request made: July 13, **1917 **during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV.
After him comes Pope Pius XI, Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, Pope… do you get the picture? **Not heeded. **
Popes aren’t pure angels on the face of this earth. They have infallibility in some areas, and fallibility in others. Bishops too. I think we know this already by reading history. We as Catholics are all loyal to the Popes, the weaker and less strong, and the stronger and better ones. When there are failings… we want to step in to support in any way we can like loyal children.
Frankly, I am in favor of many consecrations of Russia, America, many places… repeatedly… to make the world a holier place. As long as this would please God. This besides Fatima, just as a general step I believe priests should be blessing things right and left that can be blessed… as long as it would please God and would be appropriate. This world needs more holiness. More respect for the sacred…
“What are the current significance of the Fatima apparitions?” . . . the Pope was asked. He replied:
“. . . not only from the outside come the attacks to the Pope and the Church, but the sufferings of the Church come right form inside the Church by the sins committed inside the Church itself. We knew this already, but today we see this in a most horrifying way: that the greatest persecution against the Church doesn’t come from its enemies outside, but from the sins within. And that the Church has therefore a great need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn forgiveness but also the necessity of justice. Forgiveness doesn’t substitute for Justice. . .
we must always remember the powers of good are present and that in the end Our Lord is stronger than the devil and that Our Lady is our guarantee.”
Pope Benedict XVI, has also repeated the words of Cardinal Manuel Cerejeira, “It was not the Church that imposed Fatima, but it was Fatima that imposed itself on the Church.” like
Pope John Paul II, "Fatima imposes an obligation on the Church."
So you see,
‘private revelations’ can impose obligations on the Popes. An angel of God can come from Heaven, and deliver a message to a Pope, and the Pope can choose to heed or disregard it. If the message is truly from an angel of God – and there is no one better than the Pope to discern this, then it must be heeded. Though too I have a feeling there are some limits to his ability to discern that way too, but let us not digress.
But that it can not be heeded too is the lesson some people need to learn.
The Popes are the Vicars of Christ, infallible in dogmatic declarations of Faith and Morals, declared definitively as binding on the whole Church. They are not infallible in their day to day operations and decisions. They’re human beings, who need our prayers and support.
There’s the idea of ‘negative infallibility’ towards discipline, varying depending on its area and application – I don’t know of any but the ignorant who make an argument of ‘positive infallibility’ (i.e. each discipline is always the best possible, flawless). [Tho this not accounting for general Providential surrender btw]
Some of the Popes are canonized, some aren’t. A great number have been canonized, disproportionately many. But very many haven’t too.
When Popes falter, and people support them on the way down rather than the way up – that isn’t helping the Popes. Anymore than if St. Paul had hushed up St. Peter’s mistake, rather than opposing it publicly – for St. Peter’s own sake, so that the public scandal could be corrected. St. Peter didn’t make any dogmatic declarative mistakes – he couldn’t. But he could quite fail in handling other matters – an apostle, the chief among them. His failure was for a reason, to give all future Popes and the faithful an example to guide them by.
I believe -all- of the active bishops in dioceses today, or at least 99% have been appointed by both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. They’re the Popes’ choices. They have to work with what they’re given. But I think they can do better too in so many cases.
So where does that leave you?